Monday, June 12, 2017

My Family Is Precious to Me

I know this seems weird, but,
this has not happened since November – all the Zeilers are in the same
state!I know it is odd to have that
thought, but I did as I lay in bed the other night.Yes, these are the type of thoughts I have in
my downtime – I concluded that whether traveling, being a snowbird or at
college, we have not been “in the vicinity” at the same time in eight
months.I have the chance, once again,
to reflect on how fleeting time can be, how precious it is to spend time
together and how blessed I feel when these times occur.As our children grow up and take on lives of
their own, being together will change and take on new meaning.For now, I focus on enjoying the time we
have.

Spending time as a family was
something I learned while growing up.My
parents always believed that we should always eat dinner as a family.I remember eating over friends houses for
dinner and it was just my friend and I, or the two us plus his sibling(s).I did not comment on it aloud, but found it
“different” from what I was used to.When we became parents, it was important for Debbie and me to have our
dinners with our girls.It was a chance
to share what we did during the day, have an open line of communication and
discuss any issues we needed to.They
may be all grown up, but we still eat dinner and other meals together as a
family.Even at “family dinners,” we
always sat together, instead of having an adult dinner and a children dinner.

When we were a young family,
there seemed to be a lot of time and opportunities to spend together.As we have all gotten older, the amount of
potential time spent together has changed and has become more sparse.I have always like the song, “Cat’s in the
Cradle,” by Harry Chapin, but found it haunting and sad.Here was the story of a father that was too
busy for time to spend with his child and once he had the time, the lessons
learned (through actions) came to fruition and the son had no time for
him.The old adage “what goes around,
comes around” has some merit.We spent a
lot of time with our children, involved with sports, activities and time
together.We never thought about the day
they would decide to move out – we spent the time together because we wanted
to, and we still do.We love being a
family.

I know that this summer’s time
together is short-lived, with Bec still a student and about to leave us for the
summer for her internship.We are
excited for her opportunity, even as we miss her.And Gab? Though she would like to find a job
close by, there is still the chance that she will have to look further away to
find what she is looking for.Time
together is precious.Enjoy your
children and spend time with them while you can.Enjoy spending time with your spouse while
you can.Enjoy the time with your
parents while you can.Life is fleeting,
so the times we have to spend together must be important.Life is busy and we are all active, so when
the time comes to be together, we live in the moment and enjoy each other.And when we are apart, we look forward to the
next time we can spend as a family.